How I can I explain: God seems unfair letting others be ignorant of Christ?

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I’ve been talking with my friend about Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular and I promised him I’d try to answer several of his objections. After some research a few of his questions remain unanswered to my satisfaction.

I’m posting each question individually. This is the first one:

1.) How can we explain the seeming unfairness of so many people throughout the world who are born into a region, a family or circumstances not affording them the opportunity to know God as we Catholics claim to know him in the fullness of what is possible on earth?

I as a faithful Catholic should have a better chance of getting to heaven because I have access to all of what Christ has taught, all divine revelation, through the deposit of the faith. What about these poor souls who are born into another religion? They are getting falsehoods and error mixed with some truth. So they ought to have a lesser chance of getting to heaven.

Also, we are called to love our Creator who loved us first. How can a person who does not properly know Him properly love Him?

I know God will judge based on the extent of our ignorance and God requires more of us to whom much has been given, but what else can I tell my friend? Do you know of any books or websites or other resources you can point me to?

Thanks!

Brett
 
I don’t know of any web resources, but my answer would be that it is not God’s fault. Afterall, we have had 2,000 years to preach the Gospel to the world, and the fact that we have not converted the world is an indictment of us, not of God.

I believe if we had lived the Gospel and used the graces which Christ earned for us, then all people would know the Faith and believe.
 
First, God created each and every one of us in the first place.
Second, it is Catholic teaching that God gives each individual sufficient grace for salvation; it is up to the individual to accept that salvation, or reject it.

I would also like to point out that just being “born into” a Catholic, or indeed a Christian, family does not make ANY GIVEN INDIVIDUAL “more likely” to be saved. Just look at the current state of Catholic Christianity in countries like France, for example. France was one of the shining spots of Catholicism for centuries. . .what is it now? (Much as I love France)

It has been said, paraphrasing I forget who, that the fall of the best and the brightest is the most terrible fall. (Think Lucifer).

It has ALSO been said that “the love of money is the root of all evil” AND that “it is harder for the rich man to enter heaven than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle”.

So. . .maybe that poor person living in Africa, or that devout Buddhist in India, the semi-literate peasant woman working in the mountains of Peru, are MORE likely to experience CHRIST and to act rightly than that affluent teen in So.California, that Christian who goes to church a couple of times a year but lies, cheats on his wife, and thinks he’s as “good as any other man”, or that HARVARD scholar who can debate on all sorts of Biblical topics but never puts any of his time, talents or anything else to use.

And don’t even get me started on things like innate intelligence etc. Some of the people with the biggest brains are woefully handicapped when it comes to knowledge of God–probably because their egos get in the way. Ever see a child with Down syndrome, who smiles at you with his heart and soul in his eyes, because he can see more clearly, and more simply, with childlike faith and love?

I fear your friend is using the typical “God is UNFAIR” argument (which of course raises up humanity to be better and fairer than God, and thus turns God into OUR image and likeness–and falling short, to boot–)
 
I agree with everything you’ve said but I’m having a hard time understanding it in terms of God’s plan of revelation. It’s probably a common issue in studies of salvation history, but I don’t know since I’m not conversant in these studies.

I understand that God needed to prepare a people, the chosen people of Israel, in order to be ready for Him and recognize Him as the foretold Messiah when he comes. (I read “Salvation Is from the Jews”, which is a great book.) I just feel like I’m missing something as far as why God wouldn’t see to it that what He has revealed is revealed to all. Maybe it’s just a matter of He wants us to spread the Good News for our sake as well as for those we evangelize… Something like that?

A related issue is: what about all of the pagans before Christ? They could not be evangelized by anyone, right? Or were the Jews doing so at the time? But if they were, they certainly weren’t doing so very far geographically from Israel. I mean they weren’t evangelizing the Chinese and so on.

I guess part of it boils down to this for me: I feel that as a former atheist and a Catholic convert to boot my sense of peace since knowing Christ and especially since knowing Him through the Church has been more than I could ever have hoped for. The riches of the faith in terms of sacraments, Saints, the Catechism, papal encyclicals and on and on are things that I feel very sorry for those who do not know of them and cannot take advantage.

How do I reconcile these things with God’s perfect Providence?

Thanks,
Brett
 
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Rejoice:
I’ve been talking with my friend about Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular and I promised him I’d try to answer several of his objections. After some research a few of his questions remain unanswered to my satisfaction.

I’m posting each question individually. This is the first one:

1.) How can we explain the seeming unfairness of so many people throughout the world who are born into a region, a family or circumstances not affording them the opportunity to know God as we Catholics claim to know him in the fullness of what is possible on earth?

I as a faithful Catholic should have a better chance of getting to heaven because I have access to all of what Christ has taught, all divine revelation, through the deposit of the faith. What about these poor souls who are born into another religion? They are getting falsehoods and error mixed with some truth. So they ought to have a lesser chance of getting to heaven.

Also, we are called to love our Creator who loved us first. How can a person who does not properly know Him properly love Him?

I know God will judge based on the extent of our ignorance and God requires more of us to whom much has been given, but what else can I tell my friend? Do you know of any books or websites or other resources you can point me to?

Thanks!

Brett
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We are neither given equal gifts from God, nor are we judged equally. Those given more gifts will be judge more strictly than those given less gifts. However, God gives every man the grace needed to attain eternal salvation, if they but cooperate with that grace.

In math jargon, one might say that even though the gifts given by God are not equally given to all, the judgment-to-gift ratio is the same for all. 😉
 
Rejoice said:
1.) How can we explain the seeming unfairness of so many people throughout the world who are born into a region, a family or circumstances not affording them the opportunity to know God as we Catholics claim to know him in the fullness of what is possible on earth?

I as a faithful Catholic should have a better chance of getting to heaven because I have access to all of what Christ has taught, all divine revelation, through the deposit of the faith. What about these poor souls who are born into another religion? They are getting falsehoods and error mixed with some truth. So they ought to have a lesser chance of getting to heaven.
Click to expand...

Not true. Where more grace is given, more responsibility is given. No person on earth is left forsaken. We are judged based on what He gave us and what we did with it.

I recommend reading the parable of the workers in the Vineyard. In it, there are individuals who only had just begun to work before the end of the day. They weren’t given much oppertunity to learn and yet they were paid the same amount as the individuals who had worked all day long.

The Parable is in Mt 20:1-16

A person who lives in a region where they have never had the oppertunity to know Christ has been denied the grace to make them culpible for it. God is not some computer rule book. He is equally just and merciful.

Our problem is that we are lazy people. On the one prospective we do not want to think that individuals who aren’t given a chance to know Christ go to Hell, but on the other, we are very much like the workers during the day. “Hey why couldn’t God have given me this grace later to know him so that less were required of me and I could still get to Heaven?” We can’t have that attitude.

We are blessed in knowing the truth now. This is not to say that the non-believer with no chance of knowing Christ is guarenteed Heaven because of his ignorance. He was still given graces he is culpable for. Moreover, it does not mean such a person goes straight to Hell. I do believe that as Catholics we are blessed with the sacraments and the gifts to begin our journey to Heaven on earth. Its a rough road of Purification that many of us will have to finish in Purgatory.

Its like we’ve been given a map, a compass, food for the journey, a good water supply for a very long journey. Another person might only have a map. Another person may be searching for God and never been presented with the map…in which case he might be given more direct assistance through some sort of angelic work or something of which he lacks a full understanding. So we’ve got the map that we misunderstand and sometimes doubt and still continue to take wrong turns and he may have the angel who he doesn’t understand, who he ignores and becomes distracted by and of which he’d have a much easier journey if we gave him the map and the car and what not …if he’d take it.

Christ died to save the world. He didn’t just die for those who have maps. What denies us Heaven is really the one sin that is unforgivable…and that is the refusal to accept the Holy Spirit…to rely completely on ourselves and refuse the mercy of God out of our pride. We’ve been saved, but will we refuse to accept it…not some protestant version of “Yes I accept and believe that Christ is my Lord and Savior.” But to actually take ahold of it and move with it…to apply His saving work to ourselves.
 
I think this shows how important it is for us to spread the “Good News”. We are blessed in having the sacraments, the Church, the Bible, the saints, and the all the rest. They are meant for everyone. We are God’s “co-workers” in bringing salvation to people. We can do this not by preaching, but by how we live, our prayers, our help toward those in need, and our support of missionary and evangelization work.

God Bless!
 
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